I'd Do Anything
by Katarina Sparrow 19
Summary: A story unlike any other. Nancy and Dodger, Dodger and Nancy. Thick as thieves and we've all known for a long time that the boy has feelings for her. But just how far would he go for her...likewise, how far would she go for him? For Camilla...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: That's Just How It Is

A/N: Well a fan requested it and so here it is. Forgive me if the updates come far slower then they did with 'Nancy'. My writing process is a bit odd, I usually have great difficulty writing something if it didn't just fall into my lap as an idea. That isn't to say I can't do it, just that it may take me a few more days to find inspiration for an update. Read and Review, hope everyone likes this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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They had met in a very peculiar way indeed. The rain had been thundering down on the roof of Fagin's flat, causing all the children there to get restless. Fagin, had decided, and not unintelligently, to take cover in his room from the madness in the main part of the flat. And the main part of the flat was indeed, suffering from nothing short of madness. Younger children were cowering in places and trying to ward off the sounds of the thunder and the flashes of lightning through dirt tinted windows. Older children were taking great joy in teasing them which had picked fight after fight. And Nancy, was dead smack in the middle of it all. She felt like slamming her head against a wall as all the children helped put the room in utter chaos. Bill had been gone all night on another job, which wasn't helping her nerves any, and Fagin had left her in charge. Finally, feeling more then sufficiently fed up with it all, she grabbed her shawl and stormed from the flat, slamming the door behind her.

She blinked back against the rain, biting and cold on what exposed skin of her's it could find. She shivered violently and for a second considered going back into the flat before deciding she'd rather chew off her own left ear and marching out into the storm. She wasn't sure where she was going exactly, anywhere to get the hell out of Fagin's place at that rate. They were all so loud at Fagin's, always so noisey. Yet, she didn't exactly mind, it was just tonight it was bothering her.

Bill was gone on the job again, he'd been doing it more and more recently and Nancy didn't like that at all. She couldn't even fathom what Fagin had been thinking, making him housebreak for a living. Bill was one of her dearest friends, and the idea of him risking his neck every night made Nancy's stomach turn itself inside out. The biting rain was almost comforting to her as she stalked along through the night, it took her mind off things.

Finally, after much aimless wandering, Nancy decided on a course. She began to head towards the Cripples, a local tavern that was no more or less then the dwelling for the scum of the London underworld. Being such, it was Fagin's usual haunt and he had brought the boy's and Nancy there many a time. She didn't know how she was going to pay for it, probably by snatching some cash from another customer, but the girl needed some gin right now. Something to numb the pain, something to warm the body, something to stop the heart if she drank enough....

Nancy shook the last thought from her head and dredged on through the mud. She was rather extraordinarily young to have gone through everything she did. She was only fourteen years of age and already she was living with a gang of pick pockets, was trained to drink and swear like the boys, and staring down an ugly career of prostitution if her life kept on the same path it was. And Nancy had no doubt it would inevitably keep on that path, seeing as there was no way out for her. There was no way out for any of them. They were Fagin's young wards, through thick and thin, not a one of them dared peach, not a one of them wanted to. They all had their own troubles, they all had their own dark pasts. Amongst the gang, every last one of them found a family.

It was not long at all before Nancy's path was deterred by something most unexpected by the young woman indeed. She was walking along the slick streets of the main road when she heard something most unusual indeed. From a dark alley way to her right was a series of soft cries, pained and muffled only by their maker's obvious effort. Curiously, and never one to completely forsake the needy if she could help it, Nancy turned down the alley way and moved towards the sound.

She approached a the figure of a boy, curled up amongst the rubbish and sobbing, the sound muffled only by his dark blue waist coat. He was an oddly dressed snub-nosed little thing covered in grime and wearing clothes that were far too big for him. Although, it was hard for the girl to make out much more then that in this light. He stirred uneasily when he heard the sound of boots on cobblestones and looked up at her, squinting heavily.

"What's that then?" He demanded. "Don't ya know better then to disturb a toff when 'e's sleeping?" Nancy would've been put off if not for the fact that his appearance so heavily contradicted his statement, to the point that it was laughable.

"A toff huh? Some toff I'm seein' then, layin' amongst the rubbish and up to his eyes in grime? If you've got any right to yell at me for disturbin' a toff while 'e's sleepin' then I oughta scold you for yellin' at a lady." The boy sat up and looked at her angrily through his tear brimmed eyes.

"You ain't no lady."

"You ain't no toff neither." The boy looked at her sourly and turned his head into his shoulder, trying to muffle the sobs that were already hitting him so readily. "Come on then," she said kneeling down in the wet streets to face him "what's wrong."

"Nuffink!" He said, his voice muffled by his shoulder.

"Seems an awful lot of fuss over nothing. Come now, what's all this about?"

"What's it to you?" he sniffled.

"Jus' thought I could 'elp is all," she said. He looked at what he could make out of the girl in the dimly lit alley. She was not an unfortunate looking girl at all, in fact to the young boy she seemed rather pretty. Her hair was of a darker color though he couldn't quite tell what and her features seemed soft enough.

"Imared," he mumbled incoherently.

"What?" she asked. Her voice was not mocking, it was indeed very quiet as she waited for the boy to repeat himself.

"s'ared," he mumbled a bit louder.

"Can't understand you," she said gently.

"Scared! I'm scared, alrigh'?" She took pity on the young boy sitting before her and pushed his sopping wet hair from his eyes in a kind manner as he continued to talk. "I ran away from me ol' man two days ago, I 'aven't eaten, I 'aven't slept, an' now this damn storm is starting up an' I jus' wanna go 'ome!" The girl wrapped the boy in her arms and tried to quiet him as he sobbed heavily, his tears mixing in with the rain that was flowing over her pale skin and the blue tattered dress she wore. He was not too much younger then she, Nancy realized, maybe two years or so.

"How's about," she whispered quietly "I get you some place to sleep tonight eh?" The boy nodded gratefully and she stood up, helping him to his feet. The two of them walked out to the main road, all hope of a good drink abandoned by the young girl. As soon as they entered the light, the boy walking along side her was stunned. She was gorgeous, with strawberry blonde hair that was swept messily into a pony tale at the nape of her neck and warm eyes the color of melted honey. Her skin was pale and contrasting beautifully where it met the fabric of the gown she wore. Instantly the boy was awestruck, as if the very wind had been knocked out of him. "I'm Nancy by the way," she said with a warm smile. The boy could not breathe, he could not think. The name did not suit her, it was far too plain for the angel that was embodied before him.

"Jack," He croaked as he walked along, suddenly feeling very silly and self-conscious "Jack Dawkins."

"Pleased to meet you," she said smiling as she headed off down the streets. And from that moment on Jack Dawkins was in love with the girl they called Nancy, and that's just how it was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: So Very Fond of Poking!

A/N: Glad everybody is enjoying this, I'm telling you updates will come a bit slower with this one because.

a.) I'm in a show right now

b.) Again I'm pulling this one out of nowhere.

If anybody has any plot suggestions lemme know and I'll see if I maybe can't work it in somewhere. Any Nancy/Dodger idea I have yet to execute perhaps?

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When Nancy got back everybody was asleep including Fagin himself. Nancy breathed a small sigh of relief as she pressed one finger to her lips and motioned for the small boy to follow her up the steps. Finally she reached a spot towards the back that nobody had claimed previously as their place of slumber. Laying out a pillow and blanket from her own bed she helped him get tucked in properly.

"Ain't this yours?" Jack asked patting the pillow.

"Sure but don't worry nothin' about it, I'll steal a new one in the morning." He looked at her through bright eyes. A beautiful girl who could pick pocket, this was something new.

"Alrigh'" he said laying down.

"Now get some sleep," she whispered. The girl then did as she always did on nights of this caliber and pulled a chair by the window. The warm rain falling outside obscured her vision, but at least this way she could see when Bill would come home. She always worried for Bill, he was her very dearest friend in the world.

"Ain't you gonna sleep?" he asked confused.

"Not tonight," she whispered gravely "Not till 'e's back." Jack simply shrugged his shoulders and lay down, his heart doing a tiny flip in his chest for reasons he didn't quite understand. It was a strange place, a strange girl, a strange circumstance. But somehow, everything about it suited the boy just fine.

"What the bleedin' 'ell is that?"

"Poke it!"

"I ain't gonna poke it!"

"Think we should ask Fagin?"

"'E's still sleepin'!"

"Bill?"

"Asleep."

"We could wake 'im up." All eyes turned to stare at the boy who said the previous statement before he was viciously assaulted with cries of 'are you mad?'.

"Wot about Nance?"

"She's sleepin' too. All of um are out cause they stayed up the whole night through."

"But Nance'll know what to do with it."

"Forget wakin' 'er up, I'd rather keep my face 'ow it is thanks much!"

"Chicken!"

"You're the chicken!"

"I still say we just poke it!" Two of the boys who were rather wicked and mischievous grinned at each other before one bowed to the other.

"After you good man." The other boy stepped forward and poked the bundle of blankets Jack had made around himself. The other boy soon joined in and before long all of them were poking the squirming bundle with much amusement.

"Oi! What the bleedin' 'ell is all this then!" Jack cried furiously. "Don't ya know better then to disturb a toff?"

"Blimey! It's a boy!"

"'Course I'm a boy, now back then all of ya."

"Nancy!" one of the boys who went by Isac cried "Nancy there's a boy 'ere!"

From where she was sleeping Nancy groaned heavily and lifted herself from her bed. As she walked towards the fuss at the back of the flat she saw one more boy reach out and poke Jack. That did it. Jack launched at the child with full force, knocking him back onto the ground. Such a ruckus was caused that soon Fagin emerged to find Jack and the other boy tangled in quite the fight on the ground, the other boys egging it on and Nancy trying to break the whole thing up.

"Leave it!" she was crying desperately.

"Alright then! What was so desperate that we had to wake me up this early!" Fagin bellowed. He pulled the boys apart and looked at the boy who had poked Jack. "Hm?"

"'E poked me!" Dawkins bellowed annoyed.

"Well of course 'e did. They all go about poke poke poking things!" Fagin hollered tossing the alleged poker to the ground. "It's because they're all so very fond of poking!" Fagin breathed in and out heavily before turning to Jack. "And who are you to make a fuss? I don't even recognize you!"

"I..." Jack stuttered "I..."

"'E's wiv me Fagin," Nancy said quickly coming to Jack's side. "'E'd be fantastic for the trade, a little one wot actually knows wot 'e's doin'." She smiled warmly at poor little Dawkins before looking back up to Fagin. The old miser in turn, simply growled about how there were more and more kids showing up every day, and set out to fixing the breakfast.

"Why's 'e so grumpy then?" Jack questioned as Nancy set to getting ready to go out for the day.

"Oh don't pay 'im no mind, 'e's jus' liable to make a fuss is all," she said rolling her eyes while thinking of her crabby old benefactor.

"Say Nance," one of the younger boys asked as everybody got seated around the table "wot's 'is name?" The boy who had spoken was a frumpy thing with a shock of red hair and freckles decorating his ever so pale face.

"Say Jack 'ow's about you introduce yourself so they ain't on me case all mornin' huh?" Then, with extraordinary boldness, the young boy climbed onto the table.

"Right then," he said clearing his throat. "M'name is Jack Dawkins, Gentleman, Supreme Toff, Pick Pocket to beat the ages. I'm the best there is an' that's all there is to that." The boys were looking up at him with shocked but not disapproving eyes when a booming voice disrupted the merriment.

"Best there is?" it asked incredulously. The very sound of the voice made the hair on the back of Jack's neck stand up, he turned around and gulped heavily as Bill Sykes himself made his way to the table. At age 17 Sykes stood a towering six foot five, with enough of a gruff beard growing on his face to scare the bejesus out of any young man. And that was all without taking notice of the glare held intensely in his gaze. "You think you're the best there is?" he scoffed.

"No sir," Dawkins whimpered meekly.

"Bill 'e was only tryin' to-"

"I know jus' wot 'e was tryin' to do Nance. 'E wos tryin' to take my place."

"No sir!" Dawkins squawked.

"Come 'ere!"

"Bill don't you-" But it was too late for Nancy to get any sort of intervening in because quick as a flash Dawkins had leaped full force at Bill, missing him by inches and landing on the other side of the esteemed house breaker.

"Why you little-" Bill turned to grab Jack but again he was too fast, darting about the flat like some sort of heathen animal. Just as Bill would get to one place Dawkins would find a way to dodge him until finally he zipped behind Nancy, cowering like a child behind her skirt. Nancy stood up throwing herself directly in the path of Sykes.

"Enough Bill 'e was only sportin' was all! Now for God's sakes eat yer breakfast why don't ya and stop causin' all this fuss." Bill clenched his fists like he was ready to knock her out of his way when Fagin cleared his throat and gave Bill a pointed look. Sighing Bill gave one last nasty glare to Dawkins.

"Ya artful little dodger," he growled before moving to the other end of the table. Dawkins stood astonished of all that had just gone on, thinking Nancy had to be the bravest woman in the world. But when they both sat down Nancy's leg was touching his, and he could feel her trembling.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Just A Game

A/N: thank you guys for sticking with this I know my updating speed has been slow. Anyways on with more! :)

"Now then my dear, how old is it you are?" Fagin asked as he battled the boys for his fare share of the breakfast. Dawkins' little round face, made even more comical by the fact his cheeks were stuffed with sausage, swallowed hard before scratching his mop of brown hair.

"Can't say as I rightly know, me old man never told me when I was born good and proper."

"You mean to say you ain't never 'ad a birthday?" one of the boys cried. His then ridiculous laughter drowned the entire flat in a sense of merriment and Jack got rather red faced indeed.

"Hush up then Charley! When is it you was born then?" Nancy snapped harshly. The little boy, who was very fond of giggling indeed, found his mouth clamped closed instantly. A young Mr. Charley Bates, decked in coat hat and all other manner of grubby clothes, looked the part of a street urchin very well indeed. He was a giggly young thing with tousled auburn hair and a dirt smudged face. But his eyes! The boy had eyes that could twinkle like a thousand diamond stars in a sky every time he laughed. Which was, in fact, very often. "That's what I thought then," she said curtly.

"Nancy, my dear," Fagin said soothingly. He knew how to calm down the hot tempered young woman. She had a bad habit of getting riled up very quickly and once she was, she could be a force more menacing then Sykes himself. "Now then, boy, if you'd be so kind, I'd like you to play a game with me."

"A game?" he asked curiously. All the boys collectively chuckled, attempting to hide their obvious amusement.

"Yes, yes my dear...just a game. We shall all play!" The boys quickly scooted out from around the table, chuckling heartily as they scuttled about to get ready. "Charley! Bring the wares!" Fagin dawned his great green coat as the boys helped him get loaded for robbing. And then with a chuckle they all set off playing the game. Nancy laughed as she wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders and pointed to the boys snatching up Fagin's valuables from his pocket.

"You see m'lad? In this life, one thing counts!"

"In the bank, large amounts," Fagin continued picking up the song Nancy had started they sang and danced about snatching more and more from Fagin's pockets as the song wore on. Young Dawkins watched mystified until it got to a particular verse and then Nancy, twiriling and flipping her blue skirts around in a manner not unnlike that of the whores of the Cripples, put a hand on either shoulder of Bill Sykes who sat about drinking his morning gin.

"Take a tip, from Bill Sykes," she said mischievously, her copper eyes glinting with glee "'E can whip, what 'e likes!"

"I recall 'e started small!" Fagin chimed in.

"'E 'ad to pick a pocket or two," Nancy grinned clapping Bill on the shoulder as she flounced off. Soon the song ended with a fit of giggles and smiles from all, excepting Bill who sat like stone at the table. Nancy was reclined against one of the beams holding up the rickety ceiling to the flat with her arms crossed on her chest, chuckling at the absurdity of their antics.

"Now my dear," Fagin said snatching a watch from Charley's grubby palms and stuffing it in his pocket. "Why don't you come and see if you can take this watch from my pocket, like you saw Charley 'ere do."

"Why?" Jack asked with an eyebrow quirked.

"What's that my dear?"

"Why should I?" Jack inquired.

"Just for fun my dear," Fagin said his smile leering just a bit. His eyes held a threat in them, a dark brooding threat.

"Ways I see it you all 'ave the wrong idea bout this 'ere game," Jack said lazily. "While you was all pickin' 'is pocket," he continued nodding at Fagin. "I was pickin' hers." He jerked a thumb at Nancy and stretched lazily. Nancy knew immediately what it was he had taken. She delved her hand into her pocket for her coin purse and her eyes got wide in dismay. Nobody, well, nobody with half a right mind that was, stole from her. She was known to raise fits fit to beat Jesus if she knew something was missing from her stock and store.

"You little, slimey, thieving, son of a-"

"Good boy!" Fagin rushed in covering up her string of explatives "Clever boy! Ain't 'e Nance? Such a clever boy to think of something like that?" He was patting Dodger on the shoulder and giving Nancy a pointed look.

"Yea," she growled "a regular bleedin' genius that one."

"Come come now Mr. Dawkins it was all for sport," he said giving the boy a gentle prod "how about we return the pretty purse to Miss Nancy now yes?"

"Oh sure sure," he said scuttling across the floor and extending it out to her. "'Ere ya go Nan-"

"Thanks much!" She snapped ripping it from her palm and storing it away safely. "Right then!" She cried to them all "Time we wos off I think!" This cry, that used to belong to the one and only Bill Sykes, had been taken up by Nancy since he'd stop going out. He, who had been her partner in crime for so many years, had moved on to bigger and better things. In his place, she'd taken to going out with Charley, the next best in the gang, but it was not the same. She missed her Bill, and their times out together, Bill had always admired Nancy her bright innovative mind, she had a way of knowing exactly what it was she needed to steal, exactly how to get it. She was not daft, and that helped their jobs together tremendously. But those days, were over.

"Nancy," Fagin said over the hustle and bustle of the flat "my dear." He beckoned her close to him and she quirked an eyebrow. "Do us a favor and uh...take the young Mr. Dawkins out with you yes?"

"Why does it 'ave to be me Fagin?" she complained angrily.

"Because my dear, 'e's not like the other new ones, 'e's bright, talented, 'e could really do something. I want to see 'ow 'e fares against my best." Nancy gritted her teeth and let her eyes flash like fire.

"Fine," she growled. "Oi! You!" she called to Dawkins.

"Me?" he replied indignantly.

"You're comin' out on the game wiv Charley and me, so bundle up, it's nippy out."

"I ain't got no hat," he said sheepishly. Nancy looked at him oddly and then she, in a fit of bravery and what some would claim to be stupidity, grabbed the top hat off the head of Bill Sykes himself and tossed it to him.

"And now you do." Bill looked up, eyes mad enough to kill, when he noticed the soft look in Nancy's eyes, the curve of her lips as they smiled, and his anger melted. He grunted showing neither satisfaction nor annoyance, and let her get away with it, showing no more consequence then a slight tightening of his fists. "We'll be off now," she announced in her loud, brassy way.

As they entered the streets Nancy turned Charley and Jack to face each other. The boys looked at each other, not with dislike, but more with an understanding air, an air that acknowledged, there was an automatic competition between them. Charley, who was the veteran of the gang, and Jack, this newcomer with extraordinary talents.

"Charley," the boy said extending his hand "M'name's Charley Bates."

"And I'm Jack Dawkins," Jack said extending his hand "known among me more intimate friends as the Artful Dodger."

"The wot?" Nancy cried incredulously.

"The Artful Dodger," the boy stated proudly. "As so dubbed by Bill Sykes 'imself!" Rolling her eyes, Nancy batted them both upside the head and the trio went off into the streets.


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